A Better Understanding
by sootgremlin11
Summary: Sulu and Scotty have a chance to get to know each other when they are sent to a seminar together. But events take an unexpected turn and the two friends are forced to save the day without their crew to back them up. Better than summary - honest! No slash.


"_Which leads me to the following quote..._"

"Thirty-two."

"What?" Sulu glanced sideways at his colleague.

"That is seriously the thirty-second time he's said that. That has got to count as some form of blatant psychological torture. I mean, people have murdered for less."

"You've been counting?" Sulu grinned.

"Well," Scotty sunk lower into his chair, "it's not as if we or anyone else is actually listening to this guy. I've got to find some way of preventin' myself from slipping into some subconsciously induced coma."

Sulu raised his eyebrows and nodded in agreement as he surveyed the sea of heads before him. Luckily, he and Scotty had managed to grab seats in the very back row so they were able to chat quite freely. Sulu pitied those poor suckers in the front row who had to remain silent as the most pathologically boring man in the known universe went on about.......well, to be honest Sulu wasn't sure exactly what he was on about but it had been dull enough to force him to tune it out within the first few minutes. Sulu was relieved that he wasn't the only one; every so often a variety of snores had to be quickly silenced amongst the assembled Starfleet personnel.

There had to be at least a hundred of them; all from the Engineering, Tactical and Helm sections of the entire Starfleet armada. It had been quite fun in the morning with everyone exchanging tips and stories from their respective assignments; but then the reason for this whole 'retreat' had began in the form of this seminar.

"Why are we even here?" Sulu groaned. "What can we have possibly done to deserve this?"

"It was that damn Nikkson!" Sulu and Scotty looked up at the face that grinned companionably at them. The young man who had spoken craned round in his seat in front of Scotty, "You know, the pilot on the _Brolan_?"

"Yeah, I know that guy." Sulu leaned forward, "What the hell did he do to warrant a fleet wide lecture?"

"Well," the man lowered his voice conspiratorially, "the word is that he actually attempted to pull off a 68⁰ starboard veer despite being told by the Engineering crew that the port nessels were already overloading."

"Yer kidding." Scotty's eyes widened. "Even this one wouldn't pull a stunt like that." He elbowed Sulu playfully.

"Hey!" Sulu smiled.

"Well," Scotty said, "you did try to jump to warp without disengagin' the external inertial dampener."

"That was one time!" Sulu hissed irritably. When were people going to stop teasing him about that?! "Besides, if I hadn't made that tiny little error, the _Enterprise_ would have arrived in the middle of the massacre by the _Narada_ and been destroyed and then all the Federation planets would have probably been destroyed without the _Enterprise_ around to stop Nero."

"So what you're saying," Scotty replied, his grin impossibly wide, "is that _you_ saved the galaxy from those pissed-off, time-travelling Romulans?"

Sulu sighed. It was impossible to stay remotely angry at Scotty – he was just too nice a person for that. "That is precisely what I'm saying."

"Mmmm-hmmm." Scotty chuckled.

"At least I'm not the one who scattered a little dog's atoms across the universe." Sulu said slyly.

"Oi!" Scotty countered, "That was an _accident_. And I did my time on that bloody ice planet, Delta Vega. A planet that this one reminds me all too much of." As if to emphasise this he shivered and tucked his scarf under his coat.

"Yeah," the young man added, "I don't understand why they didn't do this thing back in San Francisco where it's nice and warm and there are no giant yeti like creatures wondering around outside town."

Sulu remembered hearing about the Tolians. They were native to this planet, Aramithia, and were reputed to be some of the most vicious creatures in the galaxy. They were sort of like snow leopards...but were the size of rhinoceroses with huge elephant-like tusks. The best part of them though, was the fact that they blended in perfectly to the snowy background so no one could ever see them coming: making Aramithia a brilliant place to gather some of the best and brightest in Starfleet.

"You know," Sulu agreed, "come to think of it, this is a pretty random place to have a Starfleet 'retreat'."

"Ah," Scotty waved his hand dismissively, "it's probably just because of the Michael's lab."

"The what?" Sulu and the man questioned in unison.

Scotty snorted. "I take it neither of you know much about engineering."

"Nah," the young man smiled sheepishly, "I'm a pilot so....."

"Me too." Sulu extended his hand, "Hikaru Sulu."

"Nathan Aimes."

"Nice to meet you, lad. Call me Scotty." Scotty shook Nathan's hand."Well, the Michael's lab is probably the most important weapons research lab in the Federation. About three quarters of Starfleet's new weaponry in the past five years was developed in the Michael's lab right here on Aramithia. So, this town is actually classed as a Starfleet outpost."

"Right, so Command figured it would be easier to get everyone here rather than recall everyone back to Earth." Nathan said. "Makes sense, I guess. But the conditions aren't exactly helping the mood of this gathering any."

The three men briefly looked around the room. The speaker finally seemed to have realised that he had lost his audience and was gesticulating wildly, his beady eyes scarily wide as his nasal voice rose a few more octaves. The three men all nearly choked trying not to laugh out loud at the spectacle.

"......._critical to developing a better understanding between departments_......"

"I almost feel sorry for him." Scotty chuckled,

"I suppose you can sympathise," Sulu grinned wickedly, "you must be used to losing people's interest when you try to explain all your theories."

"Ach, hud yer wheesht!"

Sulu snickered. Scotty always seemed to revert to Scots when he was on the defensive.

"It isnae my fault that no one can appreciate my genius." Scotty huffed.

Nathan smirked. "Well....at least you are a genius."

Scotty nodded thoughtfully, "That's true."

"You're modest too." Sulu said seriously. "It's one of my favourite qualities in you."

"Well, it's nothing compared to yours, _saviour of the galaxy_!"

The pair smothered their laughter as Nathan looked on in amusement. He turned around to face the stage and tapped Scotty on the arm, "Hey, I think he's finally finishing."

"It's about time!" Scotty straightened in his chair and grinned at Sulu. "I don't know about you, Mr Sulu, but I could use a stiff drink."

"I don't think I have ever agreed with anyone so much in my entire life." Sulu sighed wistfully.

Scotty looked to Nathan. "Feel like joining us?"

"Yeah, sounds great. I'm actually grabbing a shuttle out of here in a few hours but I can make time for a drink." Nathan replied. "There's a bar at the edge of town near the shuttle bay."

"Perfect!" Scotty almost started to jump up and down in his seat.

Sulu rolled his eyes at his colleague's eagerness. He liked Scotty. In the few months since the _Enterprise_ had set out under the command of James T. Kirk they hadn't had much chance to interact. They had sat together a few times for meals but that was about it. Scotty was a very likeable guy, but Sulu had heard stories........

Inwardly, Sulu laughed at himself for being apprehensive about going out for a drink with Scotty. Sulu liked to have a good time but Scotty's wildness in his inebriated state was now legendary among the _Enterprise_ crew.

"Thank you for your attention." The speaker concluded dejectedly as he watched the assembled party accidentally knock over chairs in their rush to get out of the freezing auditorium.

Being at the back, Sulu, Scotty and Nathan were amongst the first out. Sulu drew his coat tighter around him as the icy air stabbed his skin. Thankfully, Scotty wasn't hanging around and so they set off at a warming pace in the direction that Nathan nodded.

"So, how come you're getting out of here today?" Sulu managed to ask Nathan through his chattering teeth, "Scotty and I don't get out of here for another day."

"Wait, it's just you two from the _Enterprise_?" Nathan inquired. "What about your tactical representative? I'm one of five people from the _Farris_."

"Aye, well," Scotty said, "to answer both your questions: the Enterprise is on a mission at the edge of Klingon space so we were the only people the Captain would spare and that was only because he was under direct orders from Admiral Pike. They'll be picking us up tomorrow on their way back while everyone else is being shuttled out of here tonight."

"Aah." The two pilots answered. Sulu sighed sadly at the thought of having to spend a night in this frozen land. Growing up in San Francisco, he was used to the warmth. Snow was still a novelty for him.

"Cheer up, lads!" Scotty clapped his mitten clad hands together and threw his arms around both men. "We are going to have some fun while we're stuck here in this glacial nightmare!"

Sulu laughed while secretly trying to quell the slightly hysterical feeling that was forming in his chest.

Everyone was so eager to either reach the bar or the shuttle bay that no one seemed to notice the several shady figures silently following them through the snow.


End file.
